58-60 Donegall Pass

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two former, three-storey two-bay mid-terrace early Victorian townhouses built c. 1845, now reconciled into one building; no original returns. Located on Donegall Pass adjacent to St Mary Magdalene Church (HB26/30/084) south of the city centre, east of Shaftsbury Square.

Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles; overhanging eaves with timber soffits and paired eaves brackets; cast-iron rainwater goods, semi-circular gutters with circular downpipes. Brick chimneys with replacement clay-pots. Painted render to the upper floors; ruled-and-lined painted render to the ground floor; smooth render to the rear elevation. 6/6 and 6/3 timber sliding sash; with horns; flat arches over with painted masonry cills; continuous cills to first floor. Replacement glazed door.

The principal elevation faces south and is asymmetrically arranged. The entire ground floor comprises full height glazing and sliding doors with signage over. Front door located to the right.

The left gable is abutted by 58 Donegall Pass (HB26.30.083A)

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged. The left side is abutted at ground floor by a replacement single-storey flat roof full width return. Timber sliding door to the right. The first and second floor of each former dwelling comprises a single first and second floor window to the right and a landing window to the left. Replacement and enlarged timber casement window to first floor.

The right gable is abutted by adjoining building 62 Donegall Pass (HB26/30/083C).

Setting:

The building is flanked either side by the adjoining terrace. Paved area used as a fore-court for motorcycles to the front; tarmac yard and sheds to the rear. The general surroundings are principally two and three-storey residential from various periods. Former School of Music (HB26/30/089) opposite on the south side of the street with St Mary Magdalene Church (HB26/30/084) to the west.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Red brick/render
Windows: Timber sliding sash
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The current terrace, formerly known as ‘Apsley Place’ was built in 1846 in what was then a sparsely developed area of the growing town of Belfast. Donegall Pass had been laid out by the late eighteenth century across a heavily wooded area that was used as a deerpark by the Donegall family, Belfast’s principal landowners at the time. Brett takes the view that Donegall Pass and the Ormeau Road were laid out as carriage drives through these woodland estates and it was not until the control of the Donegalls over their pleasure grounds began to lessen in the 1820s that permission was given to build in this area. By 1823, the land on the north side of Donegall Pass had become the property of Henry Joy who was proprietor of the Belfast Newsletter and an active participant in the political life of the town. The building of the gas works to the east (1823), probably contributed to the development of the area, but at the time ‘Apsley Place’ was built in the mid-nineteenth century, it was one of a handful of terrace developments along the Pass to the north while the territory to the south of the Pass was largely divided among substantial villas set in spacious grounds. (OS map 1858; Brett; Patton; Dictionary of Irish Biography)

The developer of the terrace itself was Thomas Gaffikin (1809-93), a farmer’s son and butcher who built several other terraces in south Belfast. Gaffikin lived at Number 70 and later number 56 Apsley Place from its construction until he moved into a new terrace he had built at Queen’s Elms where he was to remain for the rest of his life. Gaffikin later became the proprietor of a linen and linen-yarn business and a town councillor for Cromac and then St George’s Ward, and has left an important historical legacy in the form of his 1875 lecture entitled ‘Belfast Fifty Years Ago’ which gives a lively impression of the social life of early nineteenth-century Belfast. (Annual Revisions; Dictionary of National Biography)

The houses were occupied by a succession of tenants through the years, reflecting the range of occupations open to the middle and petty bourgeois classes during Belfast’s period of most rapid expansion. The early residents of the terrace were often wealthy business proprietors or ‘gentlemen’, but as the merchant class gradually moved out of Belfast into the more salubrious surroundings of North Down and elsewhere, there is a perceptible shift in the tenantry of the terrace towards the well-doing petty bourgeoisie. The censuses of 1901 and 1911 reveal that by the beginning of the twentieth century, some tenants were sufficiently wealthy to employ a domestic servant, and others supplemented their income by keeping boarders. However, it is not until the modern era that the houses appear to have been used as commercial premises.

The first resident to be noted at number 58 is Joseph Richardson in 1846-7. Subsequent occupiers are Mrs Eckison/Atkinson (1852) and Thomas G Lindsay of Lindsay Bros, Donegall Place (1858/9). Griffith’s Valuation (1859) notes the occupier as George S Orr. The house and yard is leased from Thomas Gaffikin and is valued at £26. Dimensions are given for a three storey house and two-storey return and the yearly rent is £30 plus taxes. A succession of tenants follow, Andrew Kirk (1863), Rev A J Ard, curate of St Mary Magdalene Church from 1865 to 1869, William P O’Connor (1877-84), James McCullagh, merchant tailor (1890), and T Wright, warehouseman (1896/7). At the time of the 1901 census the occupier was Thomas B Anderson, a linen salesman who lived with his wife and children, his son working as the manager of a stained glass works. In 1911 the tenants were Francis Kerr, his wife, three daughters and two grandchildren. Francis Kerr was an engine fitter ‘at boats’ and one of his daughters worked as a drapery saleswoman. Their two English boarders worked as nautical instrument makers. Mary H Kerr, the daughter of Francis, is listed as living in the house up to 1935.

Number 60 was home to John Anderson, merchant, of Young & Anderson, Donegall Street in the 1850s. Griffith’s Valuation (1859) notes the occupier as William J McCann, of Eliza Street Spinning Company, who leases the house from Thomas Gaffikin. The house and yard are valued at £26. Dimensions are given for a three-storey house and two-storey return and the rent is £30 plus taxes. Subsequent occupants are Rev John G Fitzgerald, curate of the neighbouring Magdalene Church from 1873 to 1878; John Turnbull Gibb, clerk (1884); J Riddell, who ran a Missing Friends’ Enquiry Office and Private Detective Agency (1890) and Mrs E Clarke, National School Teacher (1896). The house was vacant at the time of the 1901 census but by 1911 is the home of widow Jane McCann and her adult children, two of her sons working as factory managers and the third as a mechanic and fitter. The family kept a domestic servant from County Leitrim. From 1930-35 William A McCann, the younger son, is the occupier.

The two houses have been modified into a shop in recent years by joining together at ground floor level. A shopfront has been inserted across the two facades.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832-3
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1901-2
4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/6 – Sixth Edition OS Map 1931
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/7/1/D –Griffith’s Valuation (1859)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/1-45 – Annual Revisions (1863-1930)
7. Belfast Newsletter, 3rd December 1839
8. Belfast Newsletter, 2nd October 1899
9. Belfast Newsletter, 11th May 1900
10. Belfast Newsletter, 22nd October 1900
11. Irish Builder, Vol 65, 15th December 1923, p.972
12. Belfast Street Directories (1846-1935)

Secondary Sources

1. Brett, C.E.B., Gillespie, R. And Maguire W.A. “Georgian Belfast, 1750-1850, Maps Buildings and Trades” Dublin and Belfast: Royal Irish Academy and Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, 2004
2. McGuire, J and Quinn, J, eds “Dictionary of Irish Biography” Cambridge: Cambridge University Press and Royal Irish Academy, 2009
3. Patton, M “Central Belfast: An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993
4. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Two former, three-storey two-bay mid-terrace early Victorian townhouses built c. 1845, located on Donegall Pass in close proximity to St Mary Magdalene Church. Converted for use as a modern business, interventions have been largely sympathetic. Externally the building has retained much of its historic fabric and late-Victorian detailing, the ground floor has been altered resulting in the lost of some of the buildings original fabric. Despite this the building still displays many of the essential features and characteristics of the original façade. The internal layout retains a partially intact mid 19th century interior. These changes demonstrate how town houses of this type were converted into commercial premises, as a result in a change of lifestyle throughout the 20th century. Number 58-60 adds significant value to this listed group of buildings (HB26.30.083A - G), makes a positive architectural contribution to the character of the terrace and is of local interest.